JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, July 7, 2025

CoP wants to give essential workers free flow through roadblocks

by

Kevon Felmine
1903 days ago
20200420
Police officers conduct a road block along the Saddle Road in San Juan yesterday.

Police officers conduct a road block along the Saddle Road in San Juan yesterday.

ANISTO ALVES

KEVON FELMINE
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Gary Grif­fith is ad­vo­cat­ing for a pol­i­cy that al­lows es­sen­tial work­ers to by­pass road­blocks while po­lice con­tin­ue to crack down on peo­ple who breach the State’s COVID-19 mea­sures.
Grif­fith told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, even as the po­lice con­tin­ued road­blocks, that he was in di­a­logue with Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley, who is chair­man of the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil, to have the pro­pos­al ap­proved.

The move comes in the wake of a se­ries of road ex­er­cis­es last Fri­day which caused grid­lock traf­fic in some parts of the coun­try, par­tic­u­lar­ly along the east-west cor­ri­dor. Po­lice re­port­ed that es­sen­tial work­ers and peo­ple go­ing to su­per­mar­kets, banks and phar­ma­cies were caught in the road­blocks. How­ev­er, they al­so en­coun­tered those who went out to meet loved ones, sell pets and check on their busi­ness­es.
Yes­ter­day, Grif­fith re­it­er­at­ed that the ma­jor­i­ty of those caught in the road­blocks were not es­sen­tial work­ers and not­ed the po­lice are pro­vid­ing de­ter­rents that are work­ing. How­ev­er, he en­sured that the po­lice would on­ly op­er­ate based on the au­thor­i­ty giv­en to them.
But of­fi­cers in the south­ern parts of Trinidad are hav­ing an eas­i­er time with the pub­lic. 

In the South­ern Di­vi­sion, Snr Supt Wayne Mo­hammed said yes­ter­day that peo­ple live a slow­er, fam­i­ly-ori­ent­ed lifestyle so the de­sire to stray out of their homes is lim­it­ed to es­sen­tial busi­ness. He said when his of­fi­cers ques­tioned peo­ple on the roads, they were ei­ther go­ing to the su­per­mar­ket, phar­ma­cies, hard­ware stores or check­ing up on el­der­ly rel­a­tives who live alone.
“I am not see­ing the num­ber of peo­ple that were there be­fore the COVID-19 out­break, so they are heed­ing the call. We are not see­ing that large amount of traf­fic, ex­cept for the main area in Mara­bel­la where the banks, phar­ma­cies and su­per­mar­kets are close to each oth­er,” Mo­hammed said.
“We have set up road­blocks through­out the di­vi­sion to en­sure peo­ple com­ply with the law and that on­ly the es­sen­tial work­ers are out­side while the rest of the pop­u­la­tion stay at home. I am get­ting re­ports that peo­ple are lis­ten­ing. South­ern peo­ple as­cribed to a lifestyle where­by they cook at home and spend time with their fam­i­lies. They don’t need to go out­side un­nec­es­sar­i­ly.”

In the South West­ern Di­vi­sion, Snr Supt Sharon Gomez-Coop­er said peo­ple are aware of the road­blocks so they obey the law.
“Peo­ple are com­ply­ing down here, but of course you will get one to two who do not. Peo­ple here are more com­pli­ant be­cause they recog­nise that go­ing out there may cre­ate a sit­u­a­tion where they will end up in a road­block. They do not want to be in that traf­fic jam so they more or less leave their homes on­ly to car­ry out es­sen­tial busi­ness,” Gomez-Coop­er said.
Cen­tral Di­vi­sion head, Snr Supt Curt Si­mon, said his of­fi­cers had to deal with a large num­ber of peo­ple leav­ing their homes last week. But fol­low­ing road­blocks on Fri­day, there was a dras­tic re­duc­tion in traf­fic in the com­mer­cial hubs through­out the di­vi­sion yes­ter­day.
“Peo­ple were giv­ing friv­o­lous ex­cus­es last week. I heard two men­tioned on the air­ways and some were hu­mor­ous and had noth­ing to do with es­sen­tial stuff. Dur­ing last week’s ex­er­cis­es, we saw that non-es­sen­tials were out in greater num­bers than es­sen­tial work­ers.

“We un­der­stand the sit­u­a­tion so we are very po­lite in per­suad­ing peo­ple to stay home and keep them­selves and their fam­i­lies who they in­ter­act with safe. If they come in­to con­tact with the virus out there and go home to their loved ones, the virus can spread in their homes,” Si­mon said.
“I think that our per­sua­sion is work­ing. We made a com­par­i­son to­day (yes­ter­day) against last Fri­day’s ex­er­cise and we have few­er ve­hi­cles in the main ar­eas through­out Cen­tral Di­vi­sion.”

In those re­cent road­blocks, Si­mon said they on­ly pe­nalised mo­torists for traf­fic of­fences and no one was held for se­ri­ous crimes such as nar­cotics and firearm pos­ses­sion. How­ev­er, he be­lieves crim­i­nals are aware of the road­blocks around the coun­try and avoid­ing them.

COVID-19


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

11 hours ago
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

11 hours ago
Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford’s holistic mission

to transform the lives of girls

Yesterday
Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Nicole Drayton’s breast cancer journey–Fear, faith, and fighting back

Yesterday